Courage
by Slytherin1992
Summary: Nick and Jeff have finally gotten together which means one thing...they have to officially meet one another's parents as boyfriends. Things may not be as simple as they seem.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Nick Duval and Jeff Sterling met during their freshman year at Dalton Academy. They became friends instantly and bonded over their love of music, video games, musicals and Disney movies. It wasn't long before their friendship turned into something more. Everyone who knew the two knew that it wouldn't be long before they officially became Niff. They just were meant to be together.

In every couple's relationship there comes the time for the official meeting of the family. For Nick and Jeff, these were happening on the same weekend. It was to be dinner at the Duval's house on Friday night followed by brunch at the Sterling's house on Saturday morning.

"Are you really that nervous?" Jeff's roommate, Blaine Anderson, asked as he watched him messing anxiously with his hair.

"Yes! I want to make a good impression," Jeff replied trying to get a piece of hair to stay in place, "What if they don't like me?"

"That is unlikely to happen," Blaine replied rolling his eyes, "Jeff…they have already met you."

"Yeah, but they met me as Nick's best friend. What if I'm not what they pictured for Nick? Well I'm sure I'm not what they pictured for Nick considering I'm a guy…" Jeff replied trailing off and then started to nervously bite at his fingernails.

"I'm sure I'm not what Mr. Hummel pictured for Kurt either, but it didn't change things after Kurt and I started dating," Blaine offered.

"Yeah, but Mr. Hummel is the coolest man I know! And no one can deny the fact that you make Kurt happy. I think Mr. Hummel was relieved when you met him," Jeff replied and then realized, "But that doesn't matter because I'm meeting the Duval family not the Hummel-Hudson family!"

"Right, sorry…I'm sure they will still like you Jeff," Blaine offered sincerely.

"I'm also meeting Nick's brother who he apparently isn't too fond of. Well, at least he doesn't talk about him too much. I think he has only been mentioned once or twice in passing really. What if he doesn't like me?" Jeff asked distressed.

"If Nick isn't too fond of his brother, then why does it matter if he likes you or not?"

Before Jeff had a chance to reply to Blaine's question there was a knock on the dorm room door and then Nick opened it and walked in.

"Are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I will ever be," Jeff replied, walking over to his boyfriend and grabbing his hand for support.

"Good luck you guys, I'm sure things will be fine," Blaine offered as the two walked out of the door hand in hand.

The two were barely two feet down the hallway before they could hear Teenage Dream blasting from Blaine's speakers.

"Why did Kurt have to go back to McKinley? Blaine's brooding and excessive listening to this song is enough to drive all of us crazy!" Jeff stated exasperated.

"Not to mention the fact that all he ever does is talk about Kurt," Nick added.

"That too…I mean I love the guy, but there is only so much a roommate can take before you want to just ship him to Lima!"

"You truly are a saint to put up with that," Nick replied with a wide smile.

Jeff just laughed in reply. He noticed that most of his nerves had disappeared. He was certain that it had everything to do with the boy that was currently holding his hand. The two boys got into Nick's cherry red Mustang and headed out of the parking lot and started their hour and a half drive to Dayton.

When the two boys arrived at the Duval house Jeff felt the butterflies in his stomach multiply. The moment he was dreading was finally here. Nick noticed the change on Jeff's face and grabbed his boyfriend's hand over the center console of the car.

"There is no reason to be nervous, my parents love you Jeff," Nick stated sincerely.

"Yeah as your best friend…I'm now your boyfriend. Things are now drastically different!" Jeff argued.

"They are still going to love you. My parents know that I'm gay. They are just happy that I found someone that makes me as happy as you do," Nick countered.

Jeff just nervously nodded his head in reply. The two got out of their car and headed up to the front door. The Duval house was like most boys houses at Dalton: huge and imposing. Nick fit into the category of boys who came from families with lots of money. Most of the boys, including Nick and Jeff, at Dalton were the sons of the elite in society. There were very few boys that were there on scholarship and most of them were there for protection reasons.

Nick opened the door and led Jeff into the house and called out for his parents. A couple seconds later Mr. and Mrs. Duval appeared in the foyer.

"Oh Nicky I've missed you!" Mrs. Duval yelled and pulled her son into a tight hug and then turned towards Jeff and pulled him into a tight embrace as well, "It is so lovely to see you again Jeff! I'm so happy that Nick finally wised up and admitted his feelings for you!"

"Wait…what? You knew?" Jeff asked shocked.

"Of course we knew!" Mr. Duval replied jumping into the conversation, "You boys made it pretty obvious when you came over during spring break and you are all Nick talks about." Mr. Duval then stuck out his hand for Jeff to shake, "It really is great to see you again Jeff."

Jeff shook Mr. Duval's hand in shocked silence. Jeff looked over and caught Nick's eyes and saw that he was giving him his 'see I told you so' look.

"Come on into the kitchen. We have got some appetizers. Dinner is going to be in an hour because we have to wait for Thomas to get home from school," Mrs. Duval stated, ushering them all into the massive and open kitchen.

"Let me guess he got detention again," Nick stated rolling his eyes.

"Yes, he was a little fresh with one of his teachers," Mr. Duval replied sitting down at one of the stools at the counter.

"How old is your brother?" Jeff asked, feeling that it was an appropriate question. He really didn't know anything about Nick's brother other than that his name is Thomas.

"You haven't told him?" Mrs. Duval asked raising an eyebrow.

"It's not like we talk about him mom…he's my age. He is my twin brother," Nick replied picking up a carrot from the veggie tray that was sitting on the counter, "We are as different as night and day though."

"Why doesn't he go to Dalton with you?" Jeff asked and immediately realized that it was the wrong question to ask when all he got in reply was awkward silence.

"It's…it's a long story," Nick amended and the subject was dropped.

Conversation eventually picked up again and Mr. Duval brought out the picture album.

"Come on dad! You don't need to show Jeff all of my embarrassing baby pictures!" Nick protested actually getting slightly red in the face.

"I'm quite enjoying this thank you very much," Jeff replied laughing at a picture of a 3 year old Nick standing with his hands on his hips and a pout on his face.

"This was part of the cookie saga. We told him that he couldn't have a cookie before dinner and then he proceeded to attempt to sneak one. We caught him and told him that he was going to have to go to time-out. He then put his hands on his hips and that pout on his face and began to tell us that we were unfair and ruining his life. I couldn't help but grab the camera and take a picture of it," Mrs. Duval explained.

Jeff thought that the stories kept getting better and better as they went through the photo album. Nick just got redder and redder in the face as they went along. They were interrupted during the epic story of the birthday cake fiasco by the front door of the house opening. A few seconds later a boy walked in through the door that made Jeff freeze in his place. He knew that boy. He knew that boy far too well.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"What are you doing home?" Thomas asked throwing a disgusted look at his brother.

"Thomas, that is not the way that you should greet your brother. We told you he was coming home tonight so we could officially meet his boyfriend," Mrs. Duval scolded.

Nick was hardly paying attention to his mother's words though. He was too focused on the fact that Jeff seemed to have frozen in place with a look of horror on his face. Thomas looked over at Nick and followed his gaze. What he saw made him smirk.

"Well if it isn't Jeffery Sterling, Queen of the fags," Thomas stated with a smirk.

Several things happened at once after Thomas stated this: Jeff ran from the room and towards the front door, Nick slapped Thomas right across the face, Mrs. Duval gasped and Mr. Duval's face turned bright red.

"Go to your room now Thomas!" Mr. Duval yelled pointing at the ceiling in the general direction of his son's room.

Nick stared after his brother as he walked up the steps rolling his eyes. He then realized that his boyfriend was missing and ran off down the hall. He found Jeff sitting by his Mustang with his head in his hands and sobs racking his body.

"Jeff, I'm so sorry," Nick stated as he ran over and pulled his boyfriend into his arms, "That's why I don't talk about my brother. He is horrible."

"No you don't understand!" Jeff replied through his sobs, or at least that's what Nick thought he said.

"What don't I understand?" Nick asked rubbing circles on Jeff's back.

"Your brother tormented me!" Jeff yelled out in reply.

"What…how? You knew my brother before this?" Nick asked now completely lost with their conversation.

"I went to middle school with your brother. He is the reason that I now go to Dalton. My parents didn't want me to have to put up with him in High School," Jeff explained burying his head into Nick's chest.

"I…well…seriously?" Nick asked at a loss for words.

"He made my life hell Nick. He would shove me into lockers, call me names whenever he saw me, toss me into dumpsters, and he even wrote letters to me and stuffed them in my locker. They stated that I was a waste of a human being and that I didn't deserve to breathe the same air as him."

Nick listened to his boyfriend speak in complete shock. He had no idea that his own brother had done this. He was absolutely appalled.

"Jeffy…you know when you asked why he wasn't at Dalton?" Nick asked and received a nod in reply, "We used to go to the same private school for elementary and middle school. Thomas got expelled in our seventh grade year. He got expelled because he was picking fights. Apparently he didn't stop though…oh Jeff, I'm so sorry that he did this to you. If only I had known…"

"Nick there is nothing that you could have done, you didn't know. At least one good thing came out of it though."

"What's that?" Nick asked, shifting his boyfriend so he could look him in the eyes.

"I got to meet you," Jeff replied shyly.

Nick couldn't help the massive grin that took residence on his face. He leaned down and pulled his boyfriend into a passionate kiss. The two were so lost in the fireworks that they didn't realize that they had company until someone cleared their throat. Nick and Jeff pulled apart and looked up to see an older man with gray hair and thick rimmed glasses standing there.

"Grandpa Marvin! I…er…this isn't…" Nick stuttered trying to desperately compose himself and explain to his grandfather, who did not know his sexual orientation, what was going on.

"You must be Jeff, Nick's boyfriend," Marvin stated looking towards Jeff with a smile.

"Er—yes," Jeff said standing up and brushing himself off, "It is a pleasure to meet you."

The two shook hands and Nick just stared with his mouth gaped from his position by the car.

"How…but…you?" Nick stuttered out knowing that he sounded like a complete idiot.

"I was invited over to meet your boyfriend. Yes Nick-Nick I knew you are gay. Your parents told me right after you came out," Marvin explain and Nick could only just nod and gather the strength to stand up, "So are either of you boys going to tell me why you are crying?"

Nick and Jeff shared a look before sighing and explaining to the man what had just happened. He progressively got angrier throughout the story and when it was finished he turned and stormed into the house without another word. Nick and Jeff looked at each other again before following Marvin into the house. The man looked like he was about ready to explode!

"Thomas made this boy's life a living hell! You have got to let me step in and teach him a lesson!" Marvin was conversing with Mr. and Mrs. Duval

"Dad…we've tried teaching him many lessons, it's not that simple," Mr. Duval replied, "He always seems contrite and then goes off and gets into trouble several days later."

"This is why you have to let me step in!" Marvin argued.

"But what good is it going to do? He will behave around you, he always has. Once you are gone things change," Mrs. Duval argued.

"The boy can come live with me for a little while," Marvin replied after a couple seconds contemplation, "That ought to teach him a lesson. He will be away from his bad influences of friends and if anyone knows how to keep troublesome kids in line it's me…right Harry?"

Mr. Duval just grumbled and scratched the back of his neck.

"I have got to hear those stories some time," Nick stated out loud and caused all three adults to turn and look at him and Jeff.

"You most certainly don't!" Mr. Duval replied causing everyone else to laugh, "How about dinner? I'm starved."

"You are changing the subject…but I'm hungry too, so let's eat," Nick replied.

The five of them sat down at the table and began to dig into the delicious Italian meal that Mrs. Duval had made. Mr. Duval had brought some food up to Thomas and made sure he understood that he was grounded to his room.

"So Jeff, what are you planning on for your future?" Marvin asked between courses.

"Well I am looking at the University of Michigan because my dad went there and he loved it. This summer I also want to look at some other schools in the Michigan and Illinois area," Jeff replied.

"What do you want to major in?"  
"Well I would love to major in theatre, but I'm also pondering English. I'm not entirely sure though."

"Well you two are only juniors so you have a little while to decide still," Mr. Duval replied.

"What about you Nick?" Marvin asked turning his attention towards his Grandson.

"Well I would love to go to school in Chicago. I've been looking into schools with really good science programs because I am thinking about going for biology or chemistry," Nick replied and then realized that he has just answered the same general area as his boyfriend. He hoped it didn't sound too clingy.

"You two sound like you want to go to school in the same area. I imagine you two would have a lot of fun if you went to college close together," Marvin answered giving Nick and Jeff and reassuring smile.

The rest of dinner was pretty uneventful and the next thing the boys knew it was 9 at night and they were both yawning because they had been up late studying for a calculus test the night before.

"Well we better be heading back, junior curfew on Friday is 11," Nick said standing up from the table and letting out a big yawn.

"I don't want you driving Nicholas, I'm going to call school and tell them that you won't be back tonight," Mrs. Duval protested and immediately headed for the phone.

"But mom…" Nick protested.

"No buts Nicholas! You are Jeff are spending the night here. He can borrow some of your clothes," Mrs. Duval replied and began to dial the number, "You can stop at campus to get new clothes tomorrow morning on your way to the Sterling's house."

Before both boys could even speak another word of protest Mrs. Duval was already telling Dalton that the boys would not be back.

"Nick why don't you take Jeff up to your room and get out the blow up mattress," Mr. Duval suggested and both Nick and Jeff stopped in their tracks.

There were about four guestrooms in the Duval house and he was suggesting that Nick and Jeff sleep in the same room. Mr. Duval caught on to their stunned looks and replied…

"I'm not stupid enough to think that you two wouldn't end up in the same room anyway after we have all gone to bed. It eases my mind to think that the two of you will have separate beds though. I do expect that if I come in I will see you in separate beds boys!" Mr. Duval warned and both boys nodded, "Now you guys might want to head on up. We have to have an unpleasant conversation with your brother and inform him that he is going home with your grandfather tonight."

Nick nodded knowing that the conversation was not something he wanted to be there to witness. He grabbed Jeff's hand and immediately pulled him up the stairs and towards his bedroom at the end of the hall.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

Jeff rolled over the next morning squinting at the sunlight that was streaming into the room. He slowly sat up trying to figure out where he was; because Blaine slept with the blinds and curtains closed so there was no way that he was in his dorm room.

"Morning," Jeff heard a voice that he immediately recognized as Nick's state.

"Where am I?" Jeff mumbled.

"My house," Nick replied with a laugh, "You spent the night at my house. Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

"Now I do," Jeff replied while rubbing his eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you how adorable you are in the morning?" Nick asked with a smile.

"No, because the only other person who has really seen me this early in the morning would be Blaine and I think you would punch him if he said so," Jeff replied with a smirk, thinking about Nick punching Blaine.

"I think Kurt would also get involved," Nick replied with a shiver, thinking about how good Kurt is at revenge.

Jeff couldn't help but laugh at Nick's reaction. The two boys finally managed to drag themselves out of bed and then made their way to Dalton to get a change of clothes. This time they headed toward Jeff's house which was right outside of Westerville. It was Nick's turn to be nervous now.

"Ready?" Jeff asked with a laugh after they had pulled into the Sterling's driveway.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…mock all you want," Nick opened the car door and getting out trying to dive into this before he could really even think about the situation too much. The more time that Nick had to think, the more nervous he would get.

Jeff opened his front door and they walked into the massive foyer with a beautiful chandelier hanging down in the middle. Jeff opened his mouth to call out to his family and inform them of their presence. Before he could even get a word out, a small blur ran in and wrapped itself around Jeff's legs.

"JEFFY!" the small blur, which Jeff realized was his four year old brother Nathan, exclaimed.

"Natey, it's so good to see you," Jeff lifted his brother up into his arms and gave him a huge bear hug.

"Mommy said that you and Nicky were coming so I colored pictures for you," Nathan exclaimed, squirming to be put down.

Jeff put Nathan down and he immediately grabbed one of Nick's hands and one of Jeff's hands and pulled them towards the kitchen. Once they got to the kitchen they saw Jeff's parents standing around the stove.

"See! See! I colored these for you guys," Nathan exclaimed pointing at the coloring book on the table.

Jeff and Nick walked over and picked up the two coloring book pages. One of the pages was an astronaut and the other was a policeman.

"I picked those because mommy said that you liked boys," Nathan explained simply.

Jeff couldn't help but break out into a bright smile. He reached over and grabbed Nick's hand.

"Thank you Nathan," Nick replied with a smile.

"It is so great to see you boys!" Mrs. Sterling stated, coming over to the boys.

Mrs. Sterling pulled Jeff into a hug and then moved over to Nick and pulled him into a hug as well. By this point Mr. Sterling had come over to join them. He shook Nick's hand and gave Jeff a hug.

"Have a seat everyone, brunch will be ready in a moment," Mrs. Sterling stated while gesturing to the table.

Mr. Sterling sat down at the head of the table with Nick on his right, Jeff on his left, and Nathan sitting next to Nick.

"Where is Amelia?" Jeff asked suddenly noticing that his sister was nowhere to be found.

"She is upstairs finishing getting ready for the day," Mr. Sterling replied rolling his eyes, "Women…"

"Hey! I heard that!" Amelia exclaimed, feigning shock as she walked into the room, "Hey Jeff, it's so good to see you!"

Amelia ran over and gave her older brother a hug.

"And Nick! It's so good to see you again. I'm so glad that you and Jeff finally realized all of the sexual tension between you too and started dating."

"Amelia!" Jeff replied blushing a deep red.

"What? You guys were having eye-sex with each other! It was disgusting and adorable at the same time."

"Amelia!" Jeff exclaimed again, now reaching a full tomato red.

"What? It's the truth!" Amelia replied with a smirk.

"Okay, let's stop talking about sexual tension and start brunch okay?" Mr. Sterling stated.

Brunch started off fairly quiet with everyone enjoying the lovely food that was made for the occasion. Once everyone began to slow down on their eating was when the conversation really began.

"So did that Kurt guy and that Blaine guy ever end up getting together?" Amelia asked as she took a bite out of her cinnamon roll.

"Yeah, Blaine finally realized that he was head over heels in love with Kurt and asked him out," Nick replied with a laugh, "I swear if he didn't do it when he did we would have locked the two of them in a closet somewhere and not have allowed them out until they got together. It was driving us all insane!"

"Just like the two of you…" Amelia mumbled.

"Anyway…Kurt transferred back to McKinley though so Blaine is back to driving us insane. He constantly plays Teenage Dream and talks about Kurt and wonders what Kurt is doing and how Kurt is feeling," Jeff stated, either not hearing or choosing to ignore his sister's comment, "I swear Wes is going to hit Blaine with his gavel if he mentions Kurt one more time."

"I would be okay with that," Nick replied with a smirk as he began to picture Wes whacking Blaine with the gavel.

"So is there anything new with you sis?" Jeff asked.

"No not really…" Amelia replied suddenly very interested in her half-empty glass of orange juice.

"Amelia," Mr. Sterling stated, raising his eyebrows at his daughter.

"Okay well I may have gotten into a small misunderstanding with this girl…"

"Amelia," Mrs. Sterling stated in the same tone as her husband.

"Okay so we got into a catfight and may or may not have both gotten in-school-suspension…make of that what you will," Amelia replied flippantly.

"What?!" Jeff and Nick replied almost choking on their food.

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Who was the girl?" Nick asked.

"Her name is Mia and before you ask she was going after my boyfriend!"

"You're boyfriend? Since when do you have a boyfriend?" Jeff asked, older brother mode activating.

"We have been dating since October," Amelia replied nonchalantly.

"Since October and you never told me?" Jeff asked.

"You never told either of us!" Mr. Sterling replied getting into his fatherly mode.

"It must have slipped my mind then."

"Who is he?" Mrs. Sterling asked.

"His name is Grant…but I think his actual first name is Thomas. Everyone at school just calls him Grant Duval."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

"What?!" Jeff and Nick exclaimed as they both stood up quickly, pushing their chairs out behind them.

"Er—I'm dating Grant Duval…do you know him?" Amelia asked biting her lip in confusion.

"Yes, in fact we do. He is my twin brother," Nick replied.

"And he was the bully that forced me to switch schools Amelia!" Jeff replied.

"Wait…seriously?" Amelia asked her face losing its color, "I knew that he was a little bit of a trouble maker, but I didn't know that he was capable of that!"

Amelia got up and ran out of the room. Jeff and Nick looked at each other before they both made the decision to run after her. They found her in her room going through her cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Jeff asked sitting down on the bed next to his sister.

"I'm going to call that bastard and inform him exactly what I think of him," Amelia stated.

"You aren't going to be able to reach him; he is currently staying with my grandfather in order to attempt to straighten out his act. I know that the first thing that my grandfather did was confiscate his cell phone," Nick replied sitting down on the other side of Amelia, "I'm sorry that my brother is such a jerk sweetie. I know that this can't be easy for you to hear."

"That's the thing though, he was never anything but nice to me," Amelia replied with a sigh.

"Well it's not you that he has a problem with. Thomas just doesn't like anyone who isn't heterosexual," Nick explained.

"I can't date someone who has a problem with my brother or his boyfriend," Amelia stated firmly, "Nick, do you know if there is anyway I can get a hold of your brother? I just want to get this conversation over with as soon as possible."

"Absolutely, I will call my grandfather and talk to him," Nick replied placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Nick pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and set about dialing the familiar number. After he explained what was going on to his grandfather the phone was handed over to Amelia. They boys then left the room in order to give her some privacy and headed back down to brunch where Mr. and Mrs. Sterling and Nathan were still sitting.

"Is she going to be okay?" Mrs. Sterling asked the boys as they sat back down at the table.

"With time, I think she really liked him," Jeff replied, "Who would have thought that my bully would hook up with my sister?"

"Well stranger things have happened before," Nick replied, "And who would have thought that my twin brother would bully my future boyfriend?"

"It's almost like karma…your brother bullied me forcing me to leave my school and head straight into your arms, his very own brother," Jeff replied with a smile.

"You know I'd almost like to thank him," Nick replied, "But I could never do that because I just can't fathom anyone ever being so awful to someone as sweet and kind-hearted as you."

Jeff couldn't help the big grin that came over his face or the blush that came with it. The two were pulled out of their conversation by Mrs. Sterling clearing her throat. Both boys blushed as they remembered that they weren't alone.

"Sorry," they both mumbled causing Mr. and Mrs. Sterling to laugh.

"Don't be sorry, it was sweet," Mrs. Sterling replied.

Amelia came back down a couple minutes later with tear tracks on her face and handed his cell phone back to Nick.

"What happened?" Jeff asked softly.

"I broke up with him," Amelia replied sitting back down in her seat, "I told him that I found out what he did and that I couldn't stay with him. I hung up before he could reply and defend himself…er—well there really is no way to defend himself though."

"I'm sorry, I really hate that you have to go through this," Nick replied and gave Amelia a hug.

"Yeah, well I'm just happy that you and Jeff are finally together. You two really are made for each other. Don't forget that," Amelia replied and Nick and Jeff couldn't help but chuckle and nod.

The rest of the brunch was considerably less dramatic. In the end though both boys were happy because they not only loved each other, but both of their parents approved.


End file.
